Ethics Articles
Articles: Occultism
>> = Important Articles; ** = Major Articles
What Christians Think About Harry Potter (EFC, 020200)
Responding to Satanism (EFC, 021200)
Magic in Jesus’ Name? (EFC, 021200)
History of the Ouija Board (Website, 041101)
Witchcraft (Wikipedia, 041101)
==============================
In some Christian circles many people still wonder what to make of the young wizard Harry Potter, whose supernatural adventures have sold more than 100 million novels in 46 languages and set opening-attendance records at the movie theatres. What is the spiritual impact on children?
Harry is an orphan whose parents, a witch named Lily and a wizard named James, died defending him from the evil Lord Voldemort. Harry grows up with hostile relatives who scorn magic and hide the truth about his parents from him. But the week before Harry¹s 11th birthday, a flock of owls brings him letters inviting him to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, Harry and other children who were born with magical abilities study the history of goblins, the mixing of potions, and the taming of fantastical beasts. Harry and his friends also investigate a series of mysteries that tie back to Voldemort.
To some, Harry Potter is the best thing to happen to children’s literature since C. S. Lewis invented Narnia and J. R. R. Tolkien told stories about hobbits; but to others, he is the literary equivalent of junk food. To some, he is the embodiment of courage, loyalty, and compassion; to others, he is selfish and dishonest. To some, he is a hero whose exploits have got children excited about reading again; to others, he is a dangerous figure who might lure children towards greater involvement in the occult.
British author J. K. Rowling has written four novels in the series so far, and she plans to write three more. To raise money for charity, she has also written two spin-offs that are supposedly replicas of Hogwarts textbooks. The books offer a richly detailed world in which magical folk share a unique history, play their own sports (especially Quidditch, a sort of soccer match on flying broomsticks), and grapple with an unusually bizarre form of pluralism (should werewolves be classified as beings, who have legal rights, or as beasts?).
Unlike Lewis and Tolkien, who sometimes explained their faith in great detail, Rowling has mostly kept quiet about her beliefs. She has said she is a Christian and believes in God, and that she attends church. In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, she said it suits her to keep mum about her beliefs, “because if I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what’s coming in the books.”
Several prominent Christians have defended the books against charges of stirring up interest in the occult. Charles Colson has said the magic portrayed in the stories is “mechanical” and not “occultic”--wizards wave their wands and perform all sorts of tricks, but they do not come into contact with anything resembling the demonic world. Alan Jacobs, professor of English at Wheaton College, concurs; he has compared the magical skills of Rowling’s wizards to the futuristic and very improbable technology that science fiction shows like Star Trek rely upon. And the editors of Christianity Today encouraged parents to read Harry Potter with their children.
But not all Christians support the series. Richard Abanes of California, author of Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the Magick, says Potter’s supporters have missed the real danger of the books, because “none of them have [sic] any knowledge or expertise in the field of occultism.” He says the magic portrayed in the Potter books is so similar to the real-life version, it might as well be the same thing; children whose curiosity is piqued by the books could go to the library--just as the kids at Hogwarts do--and learn more about astrology and other practices that are forbidden by the Bible.
“I think the harm that [the books] do is to further desensitize society and even Christians to the idea of witchcraft and magic, sorcery and spellcasting,” says Abanes, “so that when other things that are not as benign come along, that are pagan, they’re accepted.”
Other Christians, however, think such criticism is exaggerated. Connie Neal, also from California, is the author of What’s a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? She says it is important to accept the worlds that authors create on their own terms, and to separate fantasy magic from real occultic magic, unless the story explicitly connects the two. Otherwise, she says, Christians would have to reject the works of Lewis and Tolkien, who derived much of their material from pagan myth.
Neal says the Potter books may actually expose the dangers of dabbling in the occult. In the first book, a pair of centaurs say they don’t want to get involved in the fight against evil, because everything has been foretold in the stars--but a fellow centaur challenges their complacency. “That’s the real danger of astrology--it’s fatalistic,” says Neal.
She also cites a subplot in one of the following books, in which Voldemort lures a susceptible child into doing his bidding by pretending, in effect, to be an angel of light. “That’s one of the best biblical representations of evil I have ever seen,” says Neal. “Parents can use that to motivate their kids on a heart level to not to want to have anything to do with witchcraft in our world.”
But Rowling’s critics are not only concerned with her portrayal of the supernatural. Abanes says the books promote a selfish and relativistic morality at odds with the moral world view of Lewis and Tolkien. Most of the characters, including the adults, break or bend the rules, and the “good” characters often get away with it--in fact, they even seem to be rewarded for it. He also points to the lies the children tell when their teachers confront them.
It would be “naive” to expect heroes to be consistently good, counters Martin Friedrich of Edmonton, a professor of English at North American Baptist College. “There are characters in the Bible who aren’t good, and even good characters do horrible things,” he says. “And just as the Bible allows us to read about evil deeds, to develop a greater understanding of who we are, I think literature can give us somewhat of the same understanding, of the world, of ourselves, and of our relationship with other people.”
Neal says breaking the rules may even be necessary sometimes--for example, lying to the Nazis to save lives. Neal also points to the willingness of Harry and his friends to sacrifice themselves to protect their school. “Sometimes you set aside lesser rules for the greater good, and sometimes that’s a principle that we really need.”
Some Christian experts argue that parents should be less concerned about references to magic and focus more on the way these books can help children to cope with their fears. Carolyn Whitney-Brown says she first read the books when her daughter became friends with a young Potter fan who was dying of leukemia. Children who have had personal struggles with pain and bereavement are not always able to talk about their own experiences, “but they could talk about Harry’s,” she realized.
Whitney-Brown, who has led adult workshops on the Potter books, says children already know they live in a morally confusing world. Seeing Harry resist the urge to repay evil for evil--for example, he prevents the death of the man who betrayed his father--can help them to find their own moral compass.
“Dealing with ambiguity is one of the most central tasks of growing into maturity,” she says. “So if Harry has to do that, that’s not confusing for kids. That’s reassuring.”
----------
Books mentioned in this article:
* Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick by Richard Abanes (Horizon, 2001) ISBN 0889652015
* What’s a Christian to Do With Harry Potter? by Connie Neal (WaterBrook, 2001) ISBN 1578564719
----------
Peter T. Chattaway is associate editor of BC Christian News and has written about faith and pop culture for The Vancouver Sun, Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and Beliefnet.com.
==============================
Can we overreact to Satanism? As Christians our goal is to move quickly from a focus on evil to a focus on God.
Popular Christian author Hal Lindsey was absolutely correct with the idea captured in one of his book titles: Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. The Bible says both that Satan goes about like a “roaring lion” and also appears as an “angel of light.” His work is manifest and hidden, stark and subtle, obvious and disguised. Lately the darkness seems more in our face.
I am not referring to the familiar evil of everyday news: murder, theft, fraud, assault and the like. Nor to the spectacular cases of evil that galvanize world attention, like the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, or the slaughter in Rwanda, or other genocides.
I am thinking about a rise in the practice of Satanism and a growing worship of Satan, with no modesty or shame, but rather with a sickening pride and arrogance, and even a missionary zeal. Hundreds of Internet web sites celebrate the dark side, reveling in satanic ritual and celebrating the worship of Lucifer. There is even a Satanic United Nations site. This, tragically, is nowhere near the whole story.
Item: Daniel Ruda, 26, and his wife Manuela, 23, argued before a German court that their killing of Frank Haagen in July 2001 was not their responsibility since they were obeying Satan’s command. Haagen was struck on the head with a hammer and stabbed 66 times. The couple also drank their victim’s blood.
Item: Donnie James Clayburn, 19, was charged with desecration of graves and arson in Carter County, Oklahoma a year ago. He claimed to be the head of a satanic group, and three others have been implicated with him in the criminal-religious acts.
Item: In August the Kentucky Board of Corrections suspended the formal practice of Satanism in the Green River prison in Central City, Kentucky. Satanic worship had been part of the approved religious exercises in the prison.
Item: Portuguese rock musician Antonio Jore of the band Agonizing Terror was sentenced to 25 years after admitting to killing his parents in a satanic ritual.
How shall we come to grips with the new bold Satanism in our midst? First we must distinguish between various types of Satanists, and do the same with witchcraft. Three simple but absolutely crucial statements of fact can prevent us from being ignorant and misinformed. Fact One: Most witches are not Satanists. Fact Two: Most witches and Satanists are not criminals. Fact Three: Almost all witches and some Satanists do not even believe that Satan is real.
Making these distinctions in no way defends any type of witchcraft or Satanism. These distinctions are important and true, however, and so our Christian response to modern Satanism demands that we take them into account. Consider, for example, the difference between a teenager dabbling in Satanism and the occult and a 50-year-old psychopath ready to kill in the name of Satan. If I meet these two at my local mall, I hope I recognize the difference.
The rather startling claim that Satanists do not always believe in Satan is illustrated by the most famous Satanist of modern time: Anton LaVey. He is the infamous founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals. While LaVey was alive he made it very plain that he was using the idea of Satan worship as a way of attacking Christ and engaging in a lustful, hedonistic lifestyle. He said so in the preface to his wicked Bible and in many interviews. This has also been confirmed by his friends and family and is noted on the Church of Satan web site.
Beyond recognizing the various types of Satanism lies the more urgent issue of responsible and careful reaction to rumors about Satanism. As genuine, gruesome satanic crimes are reported, there is the real possibility that a social panic could again sweep both Church and state. Twenty years ago there was no limit to the gullibility of law enforcement officials, mental health professionals, cult watchers, and religious leaders about stories of Satanic ritual abuse.
I do not deny the reality. But society in general and Christians in particular have been gullible and even hysterical on the subject. Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker’s work Satan’s Silence documents real cases in the mid-1980s where people were sentenced to life in prison based on gossip and unproven allegations that they were part of a secret satanic group that raped children in local daycares and had other children killed in ritual sacrifice to Satan.
A decade ago I had several interviews with Kenneth V. Lanning, then the leading FBI specialist on occult crime. He spent years investigating the sexual abuse of children and reports of satanic ritual abuse. He found that the vast majority of claims about satanic crime turn out to be false or wildly exaggerated.
Does this really matter? There was a very powerful, unintended, evil consequence to the public fury about Satanism. The failure of the judicial system to exercise appropriate restraint in laying charges and its naivete in accepting the most astounding claims by small children about alleged satanic crimes led the courts to become far more guarded in believing accurate reports of children about real cases of sexual abuse. Lanning concluded that many pedophiles escape justice because of the prior careless rush to judgment about unfounded stories of satanic abuse.
As we react to Satanism, we need to move quickly from the focus on evil to absorption in the beauty and goodness of Jesus Christ. Jeffrey Russell, a Christian historian, is one of the world’s academic experts on evil. I once asked him to do an interview by telephone for a class I teach. He replied that he had spent enough time on the topic and was not addressing it any more. Instead, he said, he was spending his time studying angels. And not the fallen ones.
James A. Beverley is professor of theology and ethics at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto.
Quick Points About the Study of Satanism
The Satanic Bible does not outsell the Christian Bible.
Michael Aquino broke away from the Church of Satan and started his own group (the Temple of Set) because he believed Anton LaVey did not take Satanism seriously.
Mike Warnke’s book The Satan Seller has been proven to be a fraud.
It costs US$100 to join the Church of Satan.
Rebecca Brown’s work He Came to Set the Captives Free has been shown to be false by Christian researchers with Personal Freedom Outreach.
Memories of abuse can be both repressed and false. Tread carefully.
There are not 50,000 ritual murders every year in North America. That would be twice all other types of murders combined.
Witch hunts dominated Europe from 1450 to 1700 with thousands of women tortured in order to obtain confessions of witchcraft.
Masons do not worship Satan. This is a false charge rooted in careless research.
The Malleus Maleficarum is the most famous medieval manual about how to detect witches. The book’s authors had the blessing of Pope Innocent VIII.
Kenneth Lanning’s reports on Satanism are available free on the Internet. For information on his seminars write: cacconsultants@earthlink.com
Serial killers have often credited Satan for their crimes.
==============================
The Bible condemns superstition. Yet how many Christians forward e-mails promising blessings or threats?
Have you received this e-mail?
It starts innocuously enough: a sentimental story of Jesus promising to dine with a Christian, only to show up in the guise of a beggar. The “P.S.” is what catches the eye:
“If you love Jesus, send this to ten people. If you don’t send this, nothing good will come to you. Do not keep this message. The mantra [sic] must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious. Very good things will happen to everyone that touches this story.”
So it’s the old “chain letter” bit that terrifies kids the first time they receive one, and then they get wise.
Except that many don’t. Superstition is more widespread and more important than many of us realize. Sociologists in Canada and Britain have found, for example, that more than three out of every 20 people believe that the position of the stars and planets at birth can affect the course of someone’s future. The same number believe that “good luck charms sometimes do bring good luck.” Who are these people? Not just random citizens, in fact, but weekly churchgoers.
So as preachers look out at the average Canadian congregation of 200 people, it is likely that 20 or 30 of them hold to such beliefs.
Superstition, furthermore, is dangerous. Rhinos have been hunted nearly to extinction for their horns that in powdered form are widely believed in the Far East to help with headaches, fevers and impotence. Black bears are poached in the United States because many Koreans believe the ursine gallbladders can help relieve human indigestion. And the lethal effect of superstition reaches into the human population as people refuse medical treatment, or refuse it for their children, because of misbegotten beliefs about healing.
Superstition is incompatible with Christianity because it is a completely different religious dynamic. In superstition, one is attempting to manipulate the cosmos by saying the right things or doing the right things in the right places at the right times. Superstition is thus a dimension of magic. And magic is an old rival of authentic biblical religion reaching back to Torah’s forbidding the very presence of soothsayers and witches in ancient Israel.
Whereas magic is mechanical (do this and the universe then has to do that) biblical religion is relational (God loves us and we love God, therefore we treat each other appropriately and trust each other to do so). Simon the magician is condemned fiercely by the apostle Peter precisely for attempting to add Christian healing to his repertoire of tricks—thus completely misunderstanding the nature of Christian power: prayerful service according to the personal leading of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8).
Reginald Bibby’s new book, Restless Gods (Stoddart), tells us that Canadians are spiritually hungry, and it calls upon churches to more creatively offer to meet those needs. The question that a theologian must ask, however, is whether such “spiritually interested” Canadians want what the churches offer. Or do many of our neighbours prefer a form of magic?
The difference is put most starkly as Jesus warns His disciples not to pray as the Gentiles do: heaping up words in hopes of getting what they want from the powers that be. Instead, Jesus taught them to pray on the completely different premise that they have a Father in heaven who loves them.
It is this gospel that needs greater proclamation today: to offer rescue from a universe of strange powers that one must somehow unveil and manipulate, and to welcome our neighbours into the family of the self-revealing God who longs to give us His love in full measure. Convinced of such truth, we will shed our superstitions. We then will know how to deal properly with our e-mail threats, yes, and with ourselves, our children and our planet.
John Stackhouse teaches at Regent College, Vancouver, and is the author of two new books: Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today (Oxford) and Evangelical Landscapes: Facing Critical Issues of the Day (Baker).
==============================
http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/history.html
In the year 1848, something unusual happened in a Hydesville, New York cabin. Two sisters, Kate and Margaret Fox, contacted the spirit of a dead peddler, became instant celebrities, and sparked a national obsession that spread all across the United States and Europe. It was the birth of modern Spiritualism.
The whole world, it seemed, was ripe for communication with the dead. Spiritualist churches sprang up everywhere and persons with the special gift or “pipeline” to the “other side” were in great demand. These unique individuals, designated “mediums” because they acted as intermediaries between spirits and humans, invented a variety of interesting ways to communicate with the spirit world. Table turning (tilting) was one of these. The medium and attending sitters would rest their fingers lightly on a table and wait for spiritual contact. Soon, the table would tilt and move, and knock on the floor to letters called from the alphabet. Entire messages from the spirits were spelled out in this way.
A less noisy technique was a form of spirit writing using a small basket with a pencil attached to one end. The medium simply had to touch the basket, establish contact, and the spirit would take over, writing the message from the Great Beyond. This pencil basket evolved into the heart-shaped planchette, a more sophisticated tool with two rotating casters underneath and a pencil at the tip, forming the third leg. According to some writers, the inventor of the planchette was a French medium named M. Planchette. This is unlikely considering that no information on this individual exists and that the French word “planchette” translates to English as “little plank.”
The problem with table turning was that it took far too long to spell out messages. Sitters became bored when the novelty of a rocking table wore off and the chore of interpreting knocks began. Planchette writing was often difficult or impossible to read. It was a challenge just keeping the instrument centered on the paper long enough to get a decipherable message. Consequently, many mediums dispensed with the spiritual apparatuses altogether, preferring to transmit from the spirit world mentally in an altered state of consciousness called “trance.” Others eliminated the planchette but kept the pencil, finding the hand a more precise and less troublesome writing instrument. But there were also those who felt it crucial to use the right equipment if they were going to contact the spirit world properly. These resourceful individuals built weird alphanumeric gadgets and odd-looking table contraptions with moving needles and letter wheels. Clearly, these early machines suffered from over engineering if not lack of imagination. Called dial plate instruments or psychographs, a few of these devices appeared in the marketplace under various names and incarnations.
American and European toy companies actively peddled the planchette, making it immensely popular, but virtually ignored the dial-plates. This was most likely because planchettes were easier to make and market inexpensively as novelties. In any event, both took a back seat in 1886 when reports of an exciting new “talking board” sensation hit the newsstands. Mentioned in the March 28, 1886 Sunday supplement of the New York Tribune, the story quickly spread across the country. Here is a reprint of the Tribune article in an Oakland, California publication for Spiritualists, The Carrier Dove:
THE NEW PLANCHETTE.
..............
A Mysterious Talking Board and Table.
..............
“Planchette is simply nowhere,” said a Western man at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, “compared with the new scheme for mysterious communication that is being used out in Ohio. I know of whole communities that are wild over the ‘talking board,’ as some of them call it. I have never heard any name for it. But I have seen and heard some of the most remarkable things about its operations—things that seem to pass all human comprehension or explanation.”
“What is the board like?”
“Give me a pencil and I will show you. The first requisite is the operating board. It may be rectangular, about 18 x 20 inches. It is inscribed like this:
“The ‘yes’ and the ‘no’ are to start and stop the conversation. The ‘good-evening’ and ‘good-night’ are for courtesy. Now a little table three or four inches high is prepared with four legs. Any one can make the whole apparatus in fifteen minutes with a jack-knife and a marking brush. You take the board in your lap, another person sitting down with you. You each grasp the little table with the thumb and forefinger at each corner next to you. Then the question is asked, ‘Are there any communications?’ Pretty soon you think the other person is pushing the table. He thinks you are doing the same. But the table moves around to ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Then you go on asking questions and the answers are spelled out by the legs of the table resting on the letters one after the other. Sometimes the table will cover two letters with its feet, and then you hang on and ask that the table will be moved from the wrong letter, which is done. Some remarkable conversations have been carried on until men have become in a measure superstitious about it. I know of a gentleman whose family became so interested in playing with the witching thing that he burned it up. The same night he started out of town on a business trip. The members of his family looked for the board and could not find it. They got a servant to make them a new one. Then two of them sat down and asked what had become of the other table. The answer was spelled out, giving a name, ‘Jack burned it.’ There are, of course, any number of nonsensical and irrelevant answers spelled out, but the workers pay little heed to them. If the answers are relevant they talk them over with a superstitious awe. One gentleman of my acquaintance told me that he got a communication about a title to some property from his dead brother, which was of great value to him. It is curious, according to those who have worked most with the new mystery, that while two persons are holding the table a third person, sitting in the same room some distance away, may ask the questions without even speaking them aloud, and the answers will show they are intended for him. Again, answers will be returned to the inquiries of one of the persons operating when the other can get no answers at all. In Youngstown, Canton, Warren, Tiffin, Mansfield, Akron, Elyria, and a number of other places in Ohio I heard that there was a perfect craze over the new planchette. Its use and operation have taken the place of card parties. Attempts are made to verify statements that are made about living persons, and in some instances they have succeeded so well as to make the inquirers still more awe-stricken.”—New York Tribune.
—Carrier Dove (Oakland) July, 1886: 171. Reprinted from the New-York Daily Tribune, March 28, 1886: page 9, column 6. “The New ‘Planchette.’ A Mysterious Talking Board and Table Over Which Northern Ohio Is Agitated.” Article courtesy John Buescher.
All this was so amazing because this new message board was simple to make and required absolutely no understanding, skill, or mediumistic training from the participants. When the message indicator “moved by itself” from letter to letter to spell out a message, it looked genuinely magical and astonishing. This really was a new invention. It didn’t take long before interested parties filed a patent for a device strikingly similar to the “new planchette.” This first patent, filed on May 28, 1890 and granted on February 10, 1891, lists Elijah J. Bond as the inventor and the assignees as Charles W. Kennard and William H. A. Maupin, all from Baltimore, Maryland. Whether Bond or his Baltimore cronies actually invented anything or merely took advantage of an existing fad using their own design is open to conjecture, but there is no doubt that they were the first to market the board as a novelty. Charles Kennard called the new board Ouija (pronounced wE-ja) after the Egyptian word for good luck. Ouija is not Egyptian for good luck, but since the board reportedly told him it was during a session, the name stuck. Or so the story goes. It is more likely that the name came from the fabled Moroccan city Oujda (also spelled Oujida and Oudjda). This makes sense given the period’s fondness for Middle Eastern cites and the psychic miracles of the Fakirs. Charles Kennard and his business partners incorporated as the Kennard Novelty Company and began producing the first ever commercial line of Ouija or Egyptian luck-boards. Advertisements in local periodicals read:
OUIJA
A WONDERFUL TALKING BOARD
Interesting and mysterious; surpasses in its results second sight, mind reading, clairvoyance; will give intelligent answer to any question. Proven at patent office before patent was allowed. Price $1.50. All first-class toy, dry goods, and stationary stores. W. S. Carr & Co., 83 Pearl street; New England News Co., 14 Franklin street; H. Partridge & Co., Hanover and Washington streets; R. Schwarz, 458 Washington street: R.H. White & Co.; Houghton & Dutton.
—Hollis St. Theatre program, November 7, 1891, Boston, Massachusetts
Charles Kennard was not long for the Ouija business. Kennard’s business partners, unhappy with the way things were going, withdrew his authorization to produce the Ouija board after only fourteen months. The firm continued under corporate control as the Ouija Novelty Company for a full ten years and then appointed an employee, William Fuld, to the helm. With that single stroke of fate, William Fuld came to be the one that history would forever designate as the father of the Ouija board. Although Kennard continued in the toy business and even produced and patented other talking boards, he is scarcely remembered today.
William Fuld embarked successfully on his new venture in 1901, and with his brother and business partner Isaac, manufactured Ouija boards in record numbers. Nevertheless, this business partnership was not to last. After a bitter dispute, Isaac was ousted from the company. This not only ended the union but it created a family rift that was to last for generations. Isaac went on to produce and sell Ouija facsimiles, called Oriole talking boards, and pool and smoking tables out of his home workshop. William became the most successful Ouija manufacturer of his time, selling millions of Ouija boards, toys, and other games. In addition to his toy business, he kept a job as a US customs inspector and later in life became a member of Baltimore’s General Assembly.
One of William Fuld’s first public relations gimmicks, as master of his new company, was to reinvent the history of the talking board. He said that he himself had invented the board and that the name Ouija was a fusion of the French word “oui” for yes, and the German “ja” for yes. He also made other unlikely claims. Whether he took himself seriously is a matter lost to history. He may have thought apocryphal tales a fun way to sell Ouija boards and to poke fun at a gullible press.
For twenty-five years William Fuld ran the company through good times and bad. In February 1927, he climbed to the roof of his Harford Street factory in Baltimore to supervise the replacement of a flagpole. A support post that he was holding gave way and he fell backwards to his death. Following his death, William’s children took over and marketed many interesting Ouija versions of their own, including the rare and marvelous Art Deco Electric Mystifying Oracle. In 1966, they retired and sold the business to Parker Brothers. Parker Brothers produced an accurate Fuld reproduction and briefly even made a Deluxe Wooden Edition Ouija. They own all trademarks and patents to this day.
Almost from the beginning, William Fuld’s Ouija board suffered fierce competition from other toy makers. Everyone wanted to make a variation of the Wonderful Talking Board. Ouija imitations with names like “The Wireless Messenger” and I Do Psycho Ideograph, flooded the market. Some companies, like J.M. Simmons and Morton E. Converse & Son even used the Ouija name and the identical board layout. Fuld responded with legal threats and by marketing a second, less expensive talking board, the Mystifying Oracle.
The 1940s saw a virtual cornucopia of artistic and colorful talking boards. Perhaps the most beautiful were Haskelite’s Egyptian themed Mystic Boards and Mystic Trays. Other major players were two Chicago novelty companies, Gift Craft, and Lee Industries. Adorned with everything from wizards to cannibals, these talking boards were wonderful departures from Fuld’s simple number boards. Gift Craft’s popular Swami featured a flying carpet scene and a genii consulting a crystal ball. Lee’s Magic Marvel, done in eye-catching red and yellow, had four turbaned soothsayers, the zodiac, and a couple of grumpy demons thrown in just for luck. Love them or not, no one could call them boring.
Today, as in the past, there are companies who produce interesting variants of the talking board. Prevailing designs largely reflect current trends in New Age sentiment and manufacturers make every attempt to avoid any negative connotations. Some of these designs are simple letter boards, while others incorporate complex astrological and Tarot symbolism. With a few exceptions, manufacturing costs usually limit these boards to the folding cardboard variety.
In early 1999, Parker Brothers stopped manufacturing the classic Fuld Ouija board and switched to a smaller less detailed glow in the dark version. Gone is the faux bird’s eye maple lithograph and gone is the name William Fuld. Although some of us may morn its passing, we must remember the Parker Brothers slogan: “It’s only a game—isn’t it?”
==============================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca
Wicca is the most popular Neopagan religion, originally founded by the British civil servant Gerald Gardner, probably in the 1930s, although it was first openly revealed in 1951. Since its founding, various related Wiccan traditions have evolved, the original being Gardnerian Wicca, which is the name of the tradition that follows the specific beliefs and practices established by Gerald Gardner.
Definition
The conventional wisdom is that the term wicca derives from “wicce” the Norse word meaning “wise one” refering to either male or female. In Old English, wicca meant necromancer or male witch. Some contend that the term wicca is related to Old English witan, meaning wise man or counselor, but this is universally rejected by language scholars as false etymology. Nonetheless Wicca is often called the “Craft of the wise” as a result of this misconception.
It appears that the word may be untraceable beyond the Old English period. Derivation from the Indo-European roots ‘*wic’ or ‘*weik’ is seemingly incorrect by phonological understanding.
Though sometimes used interchangeably, “Wicca” and “Witchcraft” are not necessarily the same thing. The confusion comes, understandably, because both practitioners of Wicca and practitioners of witchcraft are often called witches. In addition, many, but not all, Wiccans practice what they call witchcraft and vice versa.
Wicca refers to the religion; the worship of the God & Goddess (or just Goddess), and the Sabbat and Esbat rituals. Witchcraft, or as it is sometimes called “The Craft”, on the other hand, requires no belief in specific gods or goddesses and is not a specific spiritual path. Thus, there are Witches who practise a variety of religions besides Pagan ones, such as Judaism and Christianity. It is considered to be a learned skill, referring to the casting of spells and the practice of magic or magick (the use of the “k” is to separate the term from stage magic). To add to the confusion the term witchcraft in popular older usage, or in a modern historical or anthropological context, means the use of black or evil magic, not something Wicca encourages at all.
History of Wicca
Origins
The history of Wicca is a much debated topic. Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal religions of pre-historic Europe (see Volva), taught to him by a woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck. Many believe he invented it himself, following the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray and sources such as Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland, and the practices of Freemasonry and ceremonial magic; and while Clutterbuck certainly existed, historian Ronald Hutton concluded that she is unlikely to have been involved in Gardner’s Craft activities. There is good evidence, however, that while the ritual side of Wicca is undeniably styled after late Victorian era occultism, the spiritual side is inspired by the old Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences.
Gardner possibly had access to few traditional Pagan rites and the prevailing theory is that most of his rites were the result of his adapting the works of Aleister Crowley. Note, for example, the similarity between the Wiccan Rede “An it harm none, do what ye will” and Crowley’s Thelemic “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the law, love under will.”
The idea of primitive matriarchal religions, deriving ultimately from studies by Johann Jakob Bachofen, was popular in Gardner’s day, both among academics (e.g., Erich Neumann, Margaret Murray) and amateurs such as Robert Graves. Later academics (e.g. Carl Jung and Marija Gimbutas) continued research in this area, and later still Joseph Campbell, Ashley Montagu and others highly esteemed Gimbutas’s work on the matrifocal cultures of Old Europe, but since her death her interpretation of the archaeological record has been called into question, and her theories of universal female deity are no longer considered credible in the mainstream. Some academics carry on research in this area (consider the 2003 World Congress on Matriarchal Studies), and many amateurs are enthusiastic about it, but most academics hold serious reservations.
It is important to the understanding of Wicca to realize that while Wicca as we understand it is modern, both the practice of magick and the worship of a Mother Goddess and a God or Horned God are ancient. It would be fair to say Gardner merely took the idea and ran with it. His claims that Wicca was the “Old Religion” are false, and probably has hindered, rather than helped, Wicca gain widespread acceptance.
Later developments
Wicca has developed in several directions and institutional structures from the time it was brought to wider attention by Gerald Gardner. Gardnerian Wicca was an initiatory mystery religion, admission to which was at least in theory limited to those who were initiated into a pre-existing coven. The Book of Shadows, the grimoire that contained the Gardnerian rituals, was a secret that could only be obtained from a coven of proper lineage. Some Wiccans such as Raymond Buckland, then a Gardnerian, continued to maintain this stance well into the 1970s. Further degrees of initiation were required before members could found their own covens. Interest outstripped the ability of the mostly British-based covens to train and propagate members; the beliefs of the religion spread faster by the printed word or word of mouth than the initiatory system was prepared to handle.
Other traditions appeared. Some claimed roots as ancient as Gardner’s version, and were organised along similar lines. Others were syncretistic, importing aspects of Kabbalah or ceremonial magic. In 1971 “Lady Sheba” published a version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, dispelling what little secrecy remained as to the contents of Gardner’s rituals. Increasing awareness of Gardner’s literary sources and the actual early history of the movement made creativity seem as valuable as Gardnerian tradition. Another significant development was a tendency of feminists to identify with Wicca — they began to create Dianic Wicca, a specifically feminist faith that discarded Gardnerian-style hierarchy as incompatible with their political ideals; many Dianic Wiccans taught that witchcraft was every woman’s right and heritage. Eventually the movement made allowance for solitary Wicca, and created rituals for self-initiation to allow people to identify with and join the religion without first contacting an existing coven.
The publications of Raymond Buckland illustrate these changes. During the early 1970s, in books such as Witchcraft - Ancient and Modern and Witchcraft From the Inside, Buckland maintained the Gardnerian position that only initiates into a Gardnerian or other traditional coven were truly Wiccans. However, in 1974, Buckland broke with the Gardnerians and founded Seax-Wica, revealing its teachings and rituals in the book The Tree: The Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft. This “tradition” made no claims to direct descent from ancient Saxons; all its ritual was contained in the book, which allowed for self-initiation. In 1986 Buckland published Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, a workbook that sought to train readers in magical and ritual techniques as well as instructing them in Wiccan teachings and rituals.
Beliefs and practices
Most Wiccans worship two deities, the Goddess and the God sometimes known as the Horned God. Some traditions such as the Dianic Wiccans mainly worship the Goddess; the God plays either no role, or a diminished role, in Dianism.
Wiccans celebrate eight main holidays: four cross-quarter days called Samhain, Beltane, Imbolc (or Imbolg or Oimelc) and Lammas (or Lughnasadh), as well as the solstices, Litha and Yule, and equinoxes, Ostara (or Eostar or Eostre) and Mabon (see Wheel of the Year). They also hold Esbats, which are rituals held at the full and new moon.
Generally, the names are of ancient Germanic or Celtic holidays held around the same time, although two do not have any historical precedent. Ritual observations may include mixtures of those holidays as well as others celebrated at the same time in other cultures; there are several ways to celebrate the holidays.
Some Wiccans join groups called covens, though others work alone and are called “solitaries”. Some solitaries do, however, attend “gatherings” and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Some Wiccans work with a community without being part of a coven.
Wiccans weddings can be called “bondings”, “joinings”, or “eclipses” but are most commonly called “handfastings”. Some Wiccans observe an ancient Celtic practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some Traditions hold should be contracted on Lammas (Lughnasadh), although this is far from universal.
A much sensationalized aspect of Wicca, particularly in Gardnerian Wicca, is that some Wiccans practice skyclad (naked). Though many Wiccans do this, many others do not. (Watch out for “clothing optional” gatherings.) The normal attire of a Wiccan is a pure cotton robe, to symbolise bodily purity, and a cord, to symbolise interdependence and which is often used during rituals.
In usual rites the Wiccans assemble inside a magic circle, which is drawn out in a ritual manner. Prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells, are worked. Traditionally, the circle is followed by a meal. Before entering the circle, they normally fast for the day, and have a thorough wash.
Many Wiccans use a special set of altar tools in their rituals; these can include a broom (besom), cauldron, Chalice (goblet), wand, Book of Shadows, altar cloth, athame (personal knife), altar knife, boline, candles, and/or incense. Representations of the God/Goddess are often also used, which may be direct, representative, or abstract. Aspurgers are sometimes also used.
There are different thoughts in Wicca regarding the Elements. Some hold to the earlier Greek conception of the classical elements (air, fire, water, earth), while others recognize five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and spirit (akasha). It has been claimed that the points of the frequently worn pentagram symbol, the five pointed star, symbolise five elements. In either case, these are the elements of nature that symbolize different places, emotions, objects, and natural energies and forces. For instance, crystals and stones are objects of the element earth, and seashells are objects of the water element. Each of the four cardinal elements, air, fire, water and earth, are commonly assigned a direction and a color:
* Air: east, yellow
* Fire: south, red
* Water: west, blue
* Earth: north, green
Elemental, directional correspondences, and colors may vary between traditions, however. It is common in the southern hemisphere, for instance, to associate the element fire with north (the direction of the equator) and earth with south (the direction of the nearest polar area.) Some Wiccan groups also modify the religious calendar to reflect local seasonal changes; for instance, in Australia Samhain might be celebrated on April 30th, and Beltane on October 31st to reflect the southern hemisphere’s autumn and spring seasons.
Wiccan traditions
Most Wiccans keep a ‘Book of Shadows’ as a journal or diary which contains thoughts, spells, ideas, etc. These can be electronic (in a word processing program), a notebook, or purchased at a specialty store. (Stores such as these usually also have incense, tarot cards, candles, etc. and lots thereof.)
There are many traditions, sub-traditions, and lineages of Wicca; some of the more well-known are Gardnerian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Seax-Wica, Faery Wicca, and Odyssian Wicca. Also worth mentioning is the Feri Tradition, though this is not always considered Wiccan.
A generally accepted and informative book describing the various “paths” within the American pagan community is Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today
Morality
Wiccan morality is ruled according to the Wiccan Rede, which (in part) states “An it harm none, do what ye will.” (“An” is an archaic word meaning “if”.) Others follow the slightly adapted Rede of “An it harm none do what ye will; if harm it does, do what ye must”. Either way, the Rede is central to the understanding that personal responsibility, rather than a religious authority, is where moral structure resides.
Many Wiccans also promote the Law of Threefold Return, or the idea that anything that one does may be returned to them threefold. In other words, good deeds are magnified back to the doer, but so are ill deeds.
Some Wiccans also follow, or at least consider, a set of 161 laws often referred to as Lady Sheba’s Laws. Some find these rules to be outdated and counterproductive.
Most Wiccans also seek to cultivate the Eight Wiccan Virtues. These may have been derived from earlier Virtue ethics, but were first formulated by Doreen Valiente in the Charge of the Goddess.
Wiccan Divisions
* Solitary Wicca is Wicca practiced on one’s own, often in secret.
* Alexandrian Wicca
* Dianic (Feminist) Wicca
* Gardnerian Wicca
* Seax-Wica
* Faery Wicca
* Feri Tradition
==============================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism
Paganism (or “Heathenism”) is a catch-all term which has come to bundle together (by extension from its original classical meaning of a non-Christian religion) a very broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices that are usually, but not necessarily, characterized by polytheism and, less commonly, animism.
Origins and meanings of the term
The Latin word paganus is often misrepresented as an adjective meaning “rural”, “rustic” or “of the country”. Paganus actually was a noun derived from the word pagus which originally meant ‘something stuck in the ground as a landmark’. The root pag means “fixed” and is also the source of the words “page”, “pale (stake)”, and “pole”, as well as “pact” and peace”. In later years it was metaphorically extended to ‘rural district, village’. Later the noun paganus was coined to mean ‘country dweller. villager’ and was not meant as an insult at first. As the Roman Empire strengthened paganus came to mean ‘civilian’. It was only after the Roman introduction of the aqueduct system of transporting water throughout the Roman cities that it began to have negative connotations, and did not actually become a slur until it was adopted by Middle English speaking Christians to refer to those who would not embrace Christianity.
Another definition:The word Pagan written as (ΤΑΝ) ΠΑΓΑΝ (Accusative) is the Doric Greek word for fountain or source. In Attic Greek it is written as (ΤΗΝ) ΠΗΓΗΝ. So the term paganus might be a direct relative of the Doric word pagan.
Christianity also became a major religion in the Roman army. Here pagani has meanings of non-combatant, pacifist, with attendant derision. From the widespread popularity of Christianity among slaves, the most numerous class in the Roman Empire, by contrast pagani acquired connotations of “uppity”, “religious dissident” and so on to “heretic.”
Certain scholarly fashions from the medieval period onwards, attempted to assert the value of sophisticated Pagans such as Aristotle and Plato and Ovid. This had some influence among upper class educated people but did little to counter a more general prejudice.
Nature Religion
Many current Pagans in industrial societies base their beliefs and practices on a connection to Nature, and a divinity within all living things, but this may not hold true for all forms of Paganism, past or present. Some believe that there are many deities, while some believe that the combined subconcious spirit of all living things forms the universal deity. Paganism predates modern monotheism, although its origins are lost in prehistory. Ancient paganism tended in many cases to be a deification of the political process, with “state divinities” assigned to various localities (Athena in Athens, for example). Many ancient regimes would claim to be the representative on earth of these gods, and would depend on more or less elaborate bureaucracies of state-supported priests and scribes to lend public support to their claims. This is something it shares with more ‘mainstream’ religions, as can be seen in the history of the Catholic church, the Church of England and the ancient and current trends in Islam. In one well-established sense, paganism is the belief in any non-monotheistic religion, which would mean that the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece would not be considered pagan in that sense, since they were monotheist, but not in the Abrahamic tradition. In an extreme sense, and like the pejorative sense below, any belief, ritual or pastime not sanctioned by a religion accepted as orthodox by those doing the describing, such as Burning Man, Halloween, or even Christmas, can be described as pagan by the person or people who object to them.
Pejorative
The term has historically been used as a pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to indicate a person who doesn’t believe in their religion. “Paganism” is also sometimes used to mean the lack of (an accepted monotheistic) religion, and therefore sometimes means essentially the same as atheism. “Paganism” frequently refers to the religions of classical antiquity, most notably Greek mythology or Roman religion, and can be used neutrally or admiringly by those who refer to those complexes of belief. However, until the rise of Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western civilization, “paganism” was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox beliefs falling outside of the established political framework of the Christian Church. It has more recently (from the 19th century) been used admiringly by those who believe the monotheistic religions to be confining or colourless.
The word is also used as a generic derogatory term for an unruly (usually young) person.
Heathenry
Heathen, in English and Scots originally meaning someone who lived in the wild, uncultivated heath that was outside the village system and not covered by the parish boundary nor blessed by the protective presence of a local priest, was often used as a synonym of “pagan.” Like the word pagan, it came to mean a person holding onto pre-Christian customs and beliefs, often used in a pejorative sense of an unbaptized savage (as opposed to a heretic). Viking raiders were “heathens.”
A general term, sometimes still referring to (often in a pejorative sense) non-adherents to a certain religion, it may have originally applied only to those who lived “on the heath,” (though this etymology is disputed) or in the underpopulated areas of Europe which were slow to convert to Christianity during its period of expansion.
In more modern, neopagan circles, it often refers specifically to the ancient religion of the Germanic peoples, which in its modern form is in the US more widely known by the term Asatru. In Britain “Heathenry” is the most widely used term for those who are recreating and reinterpreting old Germanic/Scandinavian religious practices and worldviews from the literary and archaeological sources and who describe themselves as “Heathen” in part to distinguish themselves from other pagans whose rituals come from other sources.
Neopaganism
In another sense, as used by modern practitioners, paganism is a polytheistic, panentheistic or pantheistic often nature-based religious practice. This includes reconstructed religions such as Hellenismos, Asatru as well as more recently founded religions such as Wicca, and these are normally categorised as “Neopaganism”. Although Neopagans often refer to themselves simply as “Pagan”, for purposes of clarity this article will focus on the ancient religion, while Neopaganism is discussed in its own article.
This also includes religions such as Forn Sed and Romuva that claim to revive an ancient religion rather than reconstruct it, though in general the difference is not absolutely fixed. Practitioners of these tend to object to the term “Neopaganism” for their religion as they consider what they are doing not to be a new thing.
Anthropological terms for Pagan
* Paleo-Paganism: A Pagan culture that has not been disrupted by other civilizations or other cultures. This does not include any known cultures. Indeed, this absolutely, by definition, cannot include any sort of living culture, since all cultures have been “disrupted” by their neighbors to some extent or another.
* Meso-Paganism: A group, which is, or has been, influenced by a conquering culture, but has been able to maintain an independence of religious practices. This includes Native Americans and Australian Aborigine Bushmen.
* Syncreto-Paganism: A culture, which has been conquered but adopts and merges the conquering culture’s religious practices with their own. This includes Haitian Vodou, and Santería.
* Neo-Paganism: An attempt to by modern people to reconnect with nature, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition includes Asatru and Neo-Druidism.
This system of classification completely leaves out any possibility of classifying Hindu religions or Shinto as “paganism”. Likewise, it would exclude the state religion of the pre-Christian Roman Empire.
==============================
The Craft, more commonly known as Witchcraft, is a term given by some modern neopagan movements, most notably in Wicca to the art of using magic or magick and the casting of spells. It is important to bear in mind that between the medieval period and the twentieth century the term witchcraft in popular use invariably meant black or evil magic, which is not its sense at all in this modern context. Gerald Gardner, the main founder of Wicca, claimed witchcraft actually meant ‘The Craft of the Wise’ which is not a valid dictionary definition.
Distinction of The Craft from Wicca
Though sometimes used interchangeably, “Wicca” and “The Craft” are not the same thing. The confusion comes, understandably, because both practitioners of Wicca and practitioners of The Craft are called witches. In addition, many, but not all, Wiccans practice witchcraft and vice versa.
Wicca refers to the religion; the worship of the God & Goddess (or just Goddess), and the Sabbat and Esbat rituals. Witchcraft, on the other hand, is considered the craft of magic, thus practicing The Craft requires no belief in specific gods or goddesses and is a learned skill, not a spiritual path. There are other Pagan Witches, “Christian Witches,” “Buddhist Witches,” etc. who also practice witchcraft.
The distinction between the two is not clear cut. There is crossover between the Pagan/Neopagan religions and Witchcraft (for example: the mention of Goddesses in spells, and the performance of spells during Sabbat rituals). However, the differences mentioned above are the general distinctions made between the two terms.
Origins
There is often an attempt to make a distiction between high magic (usually considered to be ceremonial, ritualistic magick) and low or folk magic (usually considered to be Witchcraft, Voodoo, etc.) The modern Craft draws on both these traditions. There are modern witches who claim to be using long standing traditional magic separate from Wicca, the Traditional witches. Some of these may have valid traditions; others clearly have Wiccan influences. There is a surprising amount of evidence about the practitioners of English folk magic, the cunning folk, and certainly some of their ideas seem to have been passed on down family lines. The main difference is that cunning folk seem to have been Christian if they had any religion.
Ronald Hutton, in his book “Witches, Druids and King Arthur” (Hambledon & London: 2003) explores some of the scholarly attempts to differentiate high and low magick, and illustrates how it is often a rather subjective exercise.
Theories of Neopagan witchcraft
Some neopagans believe that witchcraft exists as a way of doing good, and eschew any evil usages (See the Wiccan Rede and the Rule of Three). Their belief is sometimes very similar to the belief of Christians in prayer, that the Divine will acknowledge and grant answers to a ritual given in a Deity’s name. More often, however, modern neopagans believe that the power of witchcraft comes about primarily in the way it acts upon the person, not due to any divine intervention. Many neopagans, however, believe that witchcraft is a way of working directly with Divine forces.
Many neopagans believe that people are comprised of three selves. The three selves are the Talking Self (the conscious mind), the Younger Self (the unconscious mind) and the Higher Self (the Soul, also called the Divine Self). It is believed that the unconscious (Younger Self) is not capable of speaking or of understanding speech, but understands and responds to symbolism.
This is similar to the Eastern Christian trichotomy of soma, psyche, and nous, wherein the soma is the living body, psyche is the “mind” as we normally use the term, and nous is the faculty capable of apprehending the Divine. It differs from the neopagan model in that it assigns a place for the physical body in and of itself as part of a “whole” human being’s spiritual existence.
Therefore, to many Neopagans the power of a ritual is in the way its symbolism speaks to the Younger Self. Psychology has shown that beliefs have an effect on one’s perception of reality, such as the placebo effect. Some neopagans believe that witchcraft is a way of tapping into those forces.
People who call themselves Neopagans are more likely to take this view. People who go by the term Wiccan are more likely to believe in divine action. Also, not all people who practice witchcraft consider themselves Wiccan or Neopagan, and vice versa.
==============================